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It was almost bedtime before Mia Shanley finally sat down to do her homework. The rest of the house was quiet, except for the nursery downstairs, where her mother Maura was busy taking care of the new twins. Her father Kyle was working late at his new paramedic job and wouldn’t be home until morning. Everyone else was sleeping, so she had no one to help her with that crummy homework.

Mia took a break from scribbling and stared into space for awhile. She thought about her new siblings and wished for a moment that she had been a twin. They got all the attention! Her mom was so busy potty-training and diaper-changing that Mia barely saw her anymore.

Gary Shanley lit a match and threw it onto the pile. He watched as the flames slowly grew, circling the mountain of debris until it had become a blazing mass that nearly singed his eyebrows. Taking a step back, he thought about everything the Shanleys would be leaving behind today — their row of family portraits, one for each heir; the cemetery where generations of Shanleys had been buried; the house that had once been a tiny shack with a grass floor and no wallpaper.

He glanced over at that house, so grand and magnificent now, full of ghosts and memories. Or at least, it had been grand and magnificent once. It was gradually deteriorating, collapsing in on itself with the weight of all those memories. Who knows when it might cave in, or explode in a ball of dust? The Shanleys had to move out if they wanted to survive for 10 more generations.

While my 9th gen heir was still a child, there wasn’t much I could do but wait for him to grow up. So I tried to keep my Sims happy and productive in the meantime. Gary and Tebbany had maxed all of their skills, so they didn’t have much to do except sit back and enjoy life. Gary was still working, though his hours weren’t long, and he made it to the top of the medical career track. Lennan and Demi also made it to the top of their careers, becoming a Business Tycoon and a Captain Hero, respectively.

When Kyle’s birthday finally rolled around, Lennan wanted to throw a birthday party, so I obliged him. The “Throw House Party” option was buggy and hadn’t been working, but the “Throw Birthday Party” option worked just fine. Huh! He invited past inhabitants of Shanley Manor over, including his uncle Cort, his sister Scottie, his half-sister Cleo, and his buddy Abhijeet, who strangely enough lived in Shanley Manor way back in 2nd generation. That guy should be long gone by now!

“You know, Lennan, you really should get dressed for special occasions.”

10th generation of the Shanley Legacy is HERE! I played nonstop from about 7:30 to 12:30 tonight, most of the time on double-speed. Triple-speed was slower than double (sometimes things would freeze completely!), so I didn’t use that much. Poor Kyle spent less than a day as a teenager, gulping elixir until I could transition him to adult. Anyway, I’ll save the full update and pictures for tomorrow night. I’m pooped! Here’s my final score (not as high as I hoped it would be, but oh well. Stupid Sim Shrink…)

Last we left the Shanley family, my 8th gen heir Lennan had just married Demi Love the policewoman and produced a son, Kyle. That update focused on Lennan and Demi, but what have the rest of the Shanleys been up to?

Soon after the birth of Kyle, proud grandparents Tebbany and Gary were due to become elders. Before that happened, however, I had Gary paint a portrait of Tebbany. So far I’ve managed to get portraits painted of all my Legacy heirs except for one — Patrick, my 5th gen heir. He died unexpectedly before I managed to capture his portrait, darn him.

Last we left the Shanley family, the 8th gen heir Lennan was trying desperately to receive his first kiss from Demi Love, the policewoman. Unfortunately Demi wasn’t having any of it, which caused Lennan to have a nervous breakdown. The Sim Shrink set everything to rights, and by the next morning Lennan was ready to try again. He invited Demi over and flirted with her shamelessly in the front yard. After some backrubs and romantic hugs, he decided the time was right for their first kiss. He leaned in, but she turned away just like before. Did he have bad breath or something?

Oh well, he could only keep trying. He invited Demi into the tub o’ love thinking the warm bubbles might help her relax and make her more receptive to some kissing. It seemed to work at first — Lennan was able to pull her close for some cuddling, but he just couldn’t work up the courage to try a kiss again. Her rejections were still too fresh in his mind. Losing his nerve, he climbed out of the hot tub and stood behind Demi, crying silently. Why was this so difficult for him?

Well, my layout is still a bit hosed up, but I’m sick of fighting with it. When I upgraded to the new version of WordPress this afternoon, I had no idea it would end up spending my whole evening messing with my templates. And I’m not even finished! Anyway, I figured this was good enough for now — at least I can post. I can’t believe it’s 10:00 PM already — where did the time go? I wanted to play tonight! OK, enough of my whining…on with the update!

Last we left the Shanleys, the 8th gen twins had grown into children, and Cleo the alien baby was still a toddler. Within a few days, she had grown up, too. No one seems to notice that she’s an alien, but despite her high Outgoingness (9), she ends up spending a lot of time by herself. I don’t think the twins actively ignore her, but since very few interactions involve three Sims at a time, she ends up being left out sometimes.

I’ve been playing my Legacy Challenge family every chance I get, but those chances have been relatively slim lately, and my weekend is filling up with non-Sims-related activity. However, I still think I can finish the challenge before March 1st — if I don’t update my blog as often. Don’t boo yet! I still have a big update planned for either tonight or tomorrow. But since it takes me 3-4 hours to post an update (yeah, I’m slow), I won’t be posting as much until I’m done with the challenge. You know, posting every few days instead of every other day or whatever. Hope that makes sense.

As I’ve mentioned before, I hate to rush things with my Legacy family, but here’s what I’m thinking of doing once I finish the challenge: as with most of my Legacy generations, I’ll have an heir and a spare in 10th gen. The heir will move onto a completely new lot and continue the Shanley legacy. It won’t be an official Legacy Challenge house since they’ll be starting out wealthy, but they’ll have to work to gain the career rewards back, and I’ll still be going for platinum tombstones and impossible wants. They’re also going to marry NPCs and townies — for me, that’s one of the most fun aspects of the Legacy Challenge, so I’d like to continue that tradition for the Shanleys.

The Shanley spare will go to college with some of the townie teens (and maybe some CAS-created ones). This way I’ll be able to play both a Legacy-style family and explore the possibilities of the new expansion pack at the same time. The spare heir won’t be bound by the rules of the “Shanley Legacy”, so he/she will be free to marry whomever they want. Or not get married at all.